Cron error: bad user (root) or setgid failed (root)

solaris, system administration Add comments

For all you Googlers out there:

If you see the following in /var/cron/log on Solaris:

! bad user (root) or setgid failed (root)

The solution is restarting cron.

7 Responses to “Cron error: bad user (root) or setgid failed (root)”

  1. mark admin Says:

    Restarting cron does not fix the issue. I did this a few times on Solaris 10 and it would not correct the problem. This issue occurs for every ID, not just root.

  2. mukesh Says:

    Root password has been expire just rest the root password it will work.

  3. jorgedlt Says:

    I my case the one user (service account, not meant for real users) it had been LK in the shadow file… Probably our OPS dept banging on the login with the wrong passwd. — That is silly… cause any body could D.O.S. the box by just knocking and locking out the account — YIKs!

  4. siri Says:

    Hi,
    I got the same error on a Sol 9 machine. Tried restarting the cron and checked if the account is locked.The a/c was not locket but the error still occurs in /var/cron/log.

    please suggest wat cud be the root cause and also provide a solution.

    ! bad user (epdadm) or setgid failed (epdadm) Fri Jun 6 12:26:00 2008
    ! bad user (epdadm) or setgid failed (epdadm) Fri Jun 6 12:26:00 2008
    ! bad user (epdadm) or setgid failed (epdadm) Fri Jun 6 12:26:00 2008
    ! bad user (epdadm) or setgid failed (epdadm) Fri Jun 6 12:26:00 2008
    ! bad user (epdadm) or setgid failed (epdadm) Fri Jun 6 12:26:00 2008

  5. siri Says:

    plz find the shadow entry of the user epdadm

    grep epdadm /etc/shadow
    epdadm:we2Fe53quaaXm:13578::::::

  6. penny Says:

    Resetting the password did it for me. I run Solaris 10. The cron on the zones ran just fine but my backup failed (uses root to log in) and my crons all failed to run. The shadow looked fine and the passwd file was fine. I did a simple # passwd root and then tested cron and it worked fine. A bug perhaps??

  7. Jason wehrley Says:

    sounds like you have been digging for a long time

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